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E46 Xi Forum The E46 XI was produced from 01-05 in sedan and touring body styles. Powered by either a 2.5L inline 6 in the 325xi or a 3.0L inline 6 330xi. Discuss all thing about BMW AWD E46 'Xi' here.

I am going to be ordering suspension parts soon so that I have everything ready to go after this winter is over. I have listed everything below that, from what I have read on this forum, I should get. Please feel free to tell me if you think something is uneccessary or if I forgot something.

Also... Should I go with the rear 5mm spring pad or go with the 15mm one? If I go with 5mm.... Should I buy front lowering spring perches? How does this setup look with just the 5mm pads in rear and no additional lowering other than the Eibach springs... Does anyone know?

I am going to be ordering suspension parts soon so that I have everything ready to go after this winter is over. I have listed everything below that, from what I have read on this forum, I should get. Please feel free to tell me if you think something is uneccessary or if I forgot something.

Also... Should I go with the rear 5mm spring pad or go with the 15mm one? If I go with 5mm.... Should I buy front lowering spring perches? How does this setup look with just the 5mm pads in rear and no additional lowering other than the Eibach springs... Does anyone know?

Not to be the unpopular one in the crowd...but I ran the H&R coilovers on my XI for over 50k miles. The car took corners like it was on rails, it was more confidence inspiring than my E46 M3, BUT, that came at a cost. Ride comfort. This car was my daily driver, and it was not a very comfortable ride at all. If you take the family out or others in your car often you might want to think again. Personally I would not opt for the H&R coilovers if it is a daily driver.

Yeah... I was putting on new pads, rotors and brake lines and noticed my passenger side rear spring was broken off 1 coil up from the bottom. (I was also missing my bottom caliper bolt!) Mine sits right too and I would have never known the spring was broken unless I accidentally found it. By the rust on the ends... It has been broken for YEARS!

No coil overs... This is a daily driver... I drive at least 125 miles every day and would prefer it it be a comfortable ride. I did A LOT of reading to come up with the list.

Can someone check to tell me if that is the correct bolt (pinch bolt)??? Nobody has "pinch bolt" listed so I used a parts diagram.... I think it is correct.

Not to be the unpopular one in the crowd...but I ran the H&R coilovers on my XI for over 50k miles. The car took corners like it was on rails, it was more confidence inspiring than my E46 M3, BUT, that came at a cost. Ride comfort. This car was my daily driver, and it was not a very comfortable ride at all. If you take the family out or others in your car often you might want to think again. Personally I would not opt for the H&R coilovers if it is a daily driver.

Seems the most comfortable setup for an XI is Eibachs and Konis.

I've had the same h&r coil-overs on my car for about 60k miles now. Agreed - car handles like its on rails but overall, this suspension setup sucks - it is WAY too harsh for street use for both car and driver.

If you live where your roads are really, really good - maybe this is a good option. Otherwise, this suspension will beat the *hit out of your strut towers and other suspension components. I've also had one of the struts themselves fail prematurely due to the roads here just being too hard on them.

Thanks guys! I'll be ordering the parts soon... I'd love to do the work myself but threw my back out when I did my rear rotors, brake lines, caliper painting, bleeding, etc... Is this going to be easy enough to do in my garage on jackstands or would it be easier to try to get with one of my dealers and use a lift? Or... What do you think a fair price to pay to have the stuff installed?